Knowing God as Father
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Last week I had a great time away with the Lord in prayer by the river.
As I was sitting there looking across the river, I was amazed at the beauty of God’s creation.
At that point, I begin to think about how important it is that we know God as Father rather than just creator.
If we can know Him as Father our relationship with Him will be so much more personal.
For some of us it may be hard because we all have so many different views and experiences of fathers in our lives.
Some of us grew up with a loving father who was a big part of our lives.
Some of us grew up not knowing our father because maybe of the passing of our father or he chose to not be part of our life.
Some of us grew up with a father that might have been physically or verbally abusive.
Many of us, whether we want to admit it or not, view our Heavenly Father through the lens that our earthly father has created.
If we were hurt by our father then we tend to have a hard time putting all of our trust in God because deep down in our heart we think that God will end up hurting us.
If our father left us, we often times have a hard time believing that God will never leave us.
If we could never seem to earn the approval of our earthly father, we will have a hard time believing that our Heavenly Father accepts us and is proud of who we are.
Many of us view God as a judge sitting up in the sky ready to punish us when we make a mistake.
Its so important that we have a revelation of who God really is and begin to know Him as Father.
If we can get to the point where we know God as Father we can:
Know Him more intimately
Live in obedience to Him
12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Point 1: Knowing God the Father intimately.
When we can learn to know God as Father we will begin to have an intimate relationship with Him like never before.
I read an article this week of a man’s experience while walking the streets of Jerusalem in Israel.
He mentioned that it is so sweet to hear the kids calling out to their fathers, “Abba, Abba.”
He went on the mention that those Jewish children knew their fathers in such an intimate way that when they cried out their fathers would come to their help.
He said something that had me thinking this week. He said that when his daughter has a bad dream in the middle of the night she just needs to say, “Daddy, Daddy”, and he is there.
He went on to say that his daughter did not need to say, “I ask thee my holy father who dwells in the next room to please come to my rescue.”
She just cried out to her father and he was right there.
It makes me wonder sometimes if we over complicate things sometimes.
The Bible uses great examples like marriage to represent our relationship with the Lord and family structures with the husband as the leader while Jesus is the Groom of the Church which is His bride.
God uses these illustrations that we are familiar with to teach us the ways of the Kingdom.
If we are created in the image of God, I bet He wants us to learn about how our relationship with Him can be like a child’s relationship with their father.
We need to know God as Father rather than some great man in the sky who we cannot ever be certain that He hears us.
Just as I hear the cries of my children and come to their rescue, our Heavenly Father hears the cries of His children and comes to their rescue.
Our perspective that we have of God will determine the way that we live our lives.
For example:
If we view Him as a judge waiting to struck us down if we mess up, we will have a relationship with Him that is blocked by us living in complete fear of Him.
Our passage in Romans tells us that the spirit we recieved, at salvation, will not lead us into fear again but sonship.
In the Old Testament, under the Law, people did live in fear that God would strike them down because of something they did wrong.
Now that we are adopted in God’s family, we can now know God as Father rather than judge.
If we view Him as a loving Father then we can have an intimate relationship with God like we would have with our earthly father.
For some of us we have a distorted view of what a father is because of our experiences with our earthly fathers.
If we can imagine what we always wanted in a fatherly figure in our lives—if we could think of what a perfect father would be like, that’s how we can view our Father in Heaven.
He will never leave us, stop loving us, talk bad about us, or ever let us down.
The word Father is used about 311 times in the New Testament, but “Abba” is only used 3 times in the New Testament.
Once by Jesus in Mark 14: 36
36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Twice by Paul in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6
15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
The word “Abba” is the Aramaic word for father, but with its uses in the New Testament it has a more personal meaning than just father.
Each of the 3 times that it is used in the New Testament it is used together with father--”Abba Father”.
This should tell us that it has a much deeper meaning than just father.
How many of you know that there might be many fathers in the world, but not every father can be called daddy by there children because many of them are not there protecting their kids and raising them?
There is a big difference from knowing God as Father and “Abba” Father.
God will protect us and provide for our needs.
We need to understand that He loves us so much and will always be there when we cry out to Him.
So, when we get to know God as “Abba Father” we can know Him in an intimate way, but this can only happen because we have the Holy Spirit.
Remember, His spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
The 2 times that Paul uses the word “Abba” he uses it in conjunction with the Holy Spirit.
He says that it is the Holy Spirit that cries out “Abba” Father.
I believe that there are some things that books can never teach us and knowledge can never lead us into.
There are certain things that we can never grasp with the Holy Spirit giving us this wisdom and revelation.
Do you remember Paul’s prayer for the believers in Ephesus found in Ephesians 1:17-21
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
We can have a relationship with God, through the Holy Spirit, that we can not only know Him as God but as Father, as “Abba” Father.
Ps 103:13 “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;”
Wait a minute Pastor Tom, I thought you said that we can have a relationship with God and know Him as Father but in a different way than those in the Old Testament did without being fearful?
That’s exactly right.
Those in the Old Testament had a fear that God would strike them dead, but we can have a fear of our Heavenly Father that is rooted in love which drives us to desire to please Him and live in obedience to Him.
There is a huge difference between my kids obeying me as their father just because they are fearful that they will be disciplined if they do something wrong rather that wanting to please me because they love me.
I want to obey God not just so I can get to Heaven one day, but because He is a loving Father who created me and desires a relationship with me.
If we can grasp this it will completely change the way we live our lives.
We will begin to do everything from a place of love instead of obligation.
We then begin to give in a different way, we begin to help others differently, we begin to view our enemies in a new way, and we actually begin to do things out of love and not pride or self-gain.
We then begin to live this Christian life allowing God’s love to flow from us.
I know that many of us struggle with this, so I want to attempt to convince you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, that you have been adopted into God’s family and you can know Him as Father.
God created humanity in His image to be in constant communion or fellowship with Him.
If Adam and Eve did not sin we would know God much differently right now.
As we know, Adam and Eve sinned and all of humanity was removed from the Garden and that fellowship was broken with God.
We were now born by our earthly parents into a life of sin, being separated from God because He cannot be in the presence of sin.
We were enemies of God living for our Father the Devil.
What do you mean, Pastor Tom?
I never worshipped the devil.
How can you say that I was a child of the devil?
The Bible says that we were once enemies of God and Jesus said that if we were not for Him we are against Him.
James 4:4 “4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means we go against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
John 8:44 Jesus told the Pharisees, “44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires.”
Matthew 12:30 “30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
Once we decide to put our faith in Jesus and except Him, we move from death to life and are now adopted into God’s family.
John 1:12-13 “12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Once we accept Jesus we are then born again—born of God.
Romans says that we are now children of God.
Many of you know that we adopted our sweet daughter Lexi.
She is not just partially ours, but 100% ours.
Her last name is no longer Wells but Alderson.
She is not partially ours.
She has the same rights as our boys do and has access to everything that we have just like our boys do.
We do not love her any less or view her differently, but see her as our daughter that we love with all of our heart.
When we accept Jesus and are adopted into God’s family, we then move into an eternal relationship with our Heavenly Father.
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
When we are born again, like scripture teaches, we are now adopted into God’s family and move into a relationship with God, not just as creator but as Father, and are now loved with a love that Paul says in Ephesians is more than we can even understand.
Point 2: Living in obedience to God
The intimate relationship we have with God to know Him as Father will lead us into a life of obedience to Him.
During Jesus’ final hours on this earth, we read of His prayer to the Father saying, Mark 14:36 “36 “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
Jesus knew the Father in this intimate way which drove Him to obey Him as well.
Thousands of years before Jesus was standing in the Garden of Gethsemane crying out to His Father, Abraham was taking his only son Isaac up Mt. Moriah to sacrifice him when his son asked him, “Father, everything is here except the animal.”
Abraham answered, “God will provide.”
Isaac trusted his father, Abraham trusted God the Father and was obedient, and Jesus trusted His Father and was obedient.
We know the outcome that God did provide the sacrifice at the last minute saving Abraham’s only son, but God gave His only son as our sacrifice.
Point 3:
Conclusion:
